MuseScore Studio 4.5.2 patch now available

• Απρ 25, 2025 - 12:27

Hi everyone,

We're pleased to bring you a small update to MuseScore Studio: version 4.5.2.

This update brings stability improvements, bug fixes, and some minor feature improvements. It also introduces playback support for partial ties at repeats and jumps.

You can get the update right away via MuseHub or MuseScore.org, or via in-app notification that we'll push out to existing users of MuseScore Studio in the coming days.

Playback

  • Support for partial ties at repeats and jumps (#26178)
  • Support for arpeggios with swing rhythm (#22495)
  • Fixed regressions in tie and portamento playback in repeated sections (#27472, #27661, #27287)
  • Fixed regression where clicking the same measure would not return playback to the start of that measure (#27362)
  • Fixed regression where jumps would be taken multiple times when system markings are enabled on multiple staves (#27647)

Engraving

  • Improved slur layout across large time signatures (#27631)
  • Chord symbols no longer collide with each other horizontally or vertically (#27229, #27139)
  • Beat anchor visualizations (blue stripes) are no longer shown in printed or exported scores (#27454)
  • Voltas and rehearsal marks only anchor to barlines, not to beat positions within a measure (#27471)
  • Large time signatures added in the score no longer appear large in the parts (unless the large style is also enabled in the parts) (#27277)
  • Length of 4-measure repeat extender lines is now calculated correctly (#27305)
  • Time signatures changes at repeats are indicated after the barline when opening pre-4.5 scores (#27382)
  • Irregular measures (excluded from the measure count) are recognized as such when opening MuseScore 1 scores (PR #27746)
  • Visibility property of courtesy time and key signatures is preserved on saving and loading scores (#27381)
  • Fixed creation of partial ties across repeats and jumps, and improved performance (#27303, PR #27356)
  • Incoming partial slurs can now be created from clefs, time or key signatures to the first note of a system (#27325)
  • Fixed regression creating incoming partial slurs from an end-repeat barline to a subsequent note (#27325)
  • Fixed regression where empty lines added to header or footer text in Format > Style were not rendered on the page (#27519)
  • Fixed regression where brass/woodwind falls collided with augmentation dots (#26086)
  • Fixed regression where string data was missing for the Bass Viol (tablature) instrument (PR #27380)

Guitar

  • Fixed regression where fretboard diagrams were undesirably modified to reflect changes made to chord symbol attached to the same note (#27284)
  • Fixed regression where fret conflicts in were highlighted red in printed/exported tablature rather than in MuseScore Studio (#27605)
  • Fixed regression where staff lines were not masked by fret numbers in the tablature staff settings dialog and continuous view (#27405, #27442)
  • Fixed regression in the ability to extend barlines between linked and unlinked staves (#27455)

Percussion

  • When entering notes with the mouse, the percussion note popup now only appears when Shift is held, not Ctrl or other modifiers (PR #27778)
  • The Percussion panel no longer allows navigation keys or numbers to be used in pad shortcuts (#27355)
  • The Percussion panel will start docked rather than undocked after updating from a pre-4.5 version (#27106)

Interaction

  • System markings (e.g. tempos, voltas, rehearsal marks) are no longer duplicated when a time signature is changed (#27228, #27400)
  • System markings are always added to an instrument's topmost staff when pasted (affects grand/multi-stave instruments) (#27690)
  • Turning off multi-measure rests, or making a hidden staff visible, now unlocks systems that contained multi-measure rests (#27242)
  • Text elements follow the mouse cursor more closely when dragged across staves and systems (#27101)
  • Accidentals are retained when changing the duration of notes after leaving input by duration mode (#27460)
  • Fixed regression where hiding a staff's voice in the Layout panel would remove the staff from the Layout panel altogether (#27752)
  • Fixed regression where fingerings couldn't be nudged (i.e. moved) with the cursor keys immediately after being entered (#27219)
  • Fixed regression where pressing Return on a text marking would create a system break instead of entering text edit mode (#27347)
  • Fixed regression where accidentals attached to notes in the same chord could not be re-ordered horizontally (#27374)
  • Fixed regression in ability to create ties across a 'gap' (i.e. between non-consecutive notes) (#27445)
  • Fixed regression where right click > Select > Similar in range was unable to select spanner elements such as slurs (#27548)
  • Fixed regression where right click > Select > More referred to the first element in the range rather than the right-clicked element (#27126)
  • Fixed regression where switching from one VSTi to another wouldn't close the first VSTi's window (#27335)
  • Fixed regression where resetting all preferences would not reset changes made in the same visit to the Preferences dialog (#27414)
  • Fixed regression where the hyphen-minus (-) key didn't work for lyrics entry with non-English keyboards on Windows (issue still present on macOS) (#16314)

UI

  • More detailed action descriptions are displayed in the History panel (PR #27236)
  • Help > Online handbook now points to the new Handbook hosted in GitBook (#27234)
  • Units like 'px' (pixels), 'mm' (millimetres) and 'in' (inches) have been made translatable (#27418)
  • The ampersand ('&') character has been made translatable in the Layout panel (PR #27756)
  • 'Swing' and 'Straight' markings have been made bold in the Tempo palette (#27188)
  • Fixed regression where range selection rectangle was drawn in the wrong place when hidden staves are present (#27394)
  • Fixed regression where undoing hiding of an instrument would not reopen the 'eye' visibility icon in the Layout panel (#27791)
  • Small UI tweaks in various dialogs: Transpose (#26896, #26170), Preferences (#27388, #27365), Page Settings (PR #27373)

Accessibility

  • Fixed regression where screen readers wouldn't announce the name and first item of a menu (e.g. "File, New") as it was opened (#27079)
  • Fixed regression in keyboard control over the anacrusis / pickup measure dropdown in the New Score dialog (#27278)
  • Fixed regression in 6-key braille input where it was not possible to type interval signs to create chords (#27581)

Stability

  • Fixed crash on dragging the first measure of a score and dropping it back in its original position (#27575)
  • Fixed crash when splitting a measure near a lyrics line and the end of a system (#26369)
  • Fixed crash after replacing two single-measure repeats with one two-measure repeat (#27731)
  • Fixed crashes after clearing (i.e. deleting the contents of) a measure with partial ties and attempting to undo (e.g. with Ctrl+Z) (#27618)
  • Fixed crashes when closing a score after dragging or deleting a measure with partial ties (#27714, #27406, #27407)
  • Fixed crash when closing a score after unchecking all options in the partial tie popup (#27738)
  • Fixed crash when exchanging partially-tied notes between voices within a repeated section (#27252)
  • Fixed crash after deleting a start-repeat barline with a partial tie and attempting to undo (e.g. with Ctrl+Z) (#27723)
  • Fixed crash after creating a partial tie in the score and then selecting it in the parts (#27710)
  • Fixed crash after making a partially-tied note invisible and attempting to undo (e.g. with Ctrl+Z) (#27718)
  • Fixed crash when adding instrument change text from the More popup in the palettes (#27233)
  • Fixed crash adding tie to a selected range that contains two non-consecutive notes of the same pitch (#27654)
  • Fixed crash after entering an ornament with interval below (e.g. mordent) and changing style to Always show cue note (#27749)
  • Fixed crash when opening the Layout panel while an empty system text element is present (and disabled creation of such elements) (#27448)
  • Fixed crash when pasting in continuous view after copying and exchanging notes between voices in normal view (#27433)
  • Fixed crash when accessing the Mixer's three-dots menu > View > Restore the default layout on macOS (#26976)
  • Fixed crash on pasting multi-voice passage in continuous view (#27433)
  • Fixed crash when dragging a note-anchored line (found in the Lines palette; once entered, it's no longer possible to drag these lines) (#27663)
  • Fixed crash and disappearing clef triggered when hidden staves are present in the Layout panel (#27443)
  • Fixed freeze when opening MuseScore 3 files with invalid notes on TAB staves (#27736)
  • Fixed regression in performance when pasting spanner elements (e.g. lines, hairpins, slurs, etc.) (#27399)

For more information, see the 4.5.2 GitHub Project. And don't forget to check out the 4.5 release video!

Comments

• Μάιος 5, 2025 - 01:21

Musecore, My problem since updating to Musecore 4.5 is that the drums and percusion are not loud enough and they seem to have lost clarity and punch. Turning them up to full volume, using EQ, dynamics etc doesn't seem to make much difference. It is a pity because I love this program and have been using it for years to create my own backing tracks. In the past the drums have been good enough to use directly in my backing tracks but they are no longer useable. Doug

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• Μάιος 12, 2025 - 15:41

Nothing should have changed regarding the sounds of the sound libraries. Are you sure you didn't inadvertently change libraries? Check the Mixer, and if you still have trouble, be sure to open a new thread in the Support forum and attach a score where you are having problems - ideally one you have no yet saved in 4.5 so that it can be easily opened in an older version for comparson.

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• Μάιος 12, 2025 - 18:47

That's a forum post, not an actual issue report on GitHub, so while fellow users here have probably seen it, the developers almost certainly have not.

To me this is not a bug - after playback completes, the position is automatically reset to the beginning of the score, so it seems correct that this would be reflected in the toolbar display. If you're curious what the timing of the piece is, just select the end barline and the playback position will be set there, and that will update the toolbar display.

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• Μάιος 19, 2025 - 02:11

I don’t know what the difference is between this and GitHub.
Still, how can you mark or find an exact duration if it's not possible to see the actual length? Imagine you're making music for an advertisement—how do you adjust the duration if you can't see it accurately on screen?
How can I get in touch with the developers? I don’t really understand how this works.

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• Μάιος 19, 2025 - 03:31

> "how can you mark or find an exact duration"?

total beats / bpm = measures x beats/measure / bpm = time, in minutes

The attached song is 16 measures and has a time signature of 3/4. At the default tempo of 120 bpm. it lasts

16*3/120 = 0.4 minutes = 24 seconds

20250518 221127 - HB.mscz

MuseScore pads the ending with ~3 seconds of silence when it plays or exports to an audio format, so a .WAV file created from this score will last 28 seconds. Oddly, it doesn't put a pad at the beginning, only at the end.

Similarly: Got a song that has 32 measures in 5/4 and you want it to run 58 seconds? It needs to play at 165.5 bpm. Play it at 165: 58.2 seconds; 166: 57.8 seconds.

That said, MuseScore is not really the right tool for such a task. You would want a DAW for that. (Not saying it wouldn't work, just that it's not the best tool for the task.) Even a simple DAW like Audacity would do the job better than MuS would.

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• Μάιος 19, 2025 - 14:21

This site is musescore.org - it is the place where you download the software, and it offers forums for users to support each other.

GitHub (https:// is where you submit bug reports or features requests, but it is best to first discuss them here on this forum to be sure it isn't simply a misunderstanding, as this appears to be. As I explained, you can easily find the total duration of a piece - just click the final barline. No need to even play the score first - the info is available instantly.

In the future, when you have questions about using MuseScore, please start a new thread in Support forum here on this site, rather than using comments on product announcements. That will make easier for more people to follow the discussions.

So I will follow up in your previous forum post to answer your question further.

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• Μάιος 13, 2025 - 06:49

Glad to see an update with a lot of stability fixes. Personally I use to use Musescore a lot a few months ago but once update 4.5.0 was released is when I stopped using the app. The only reason so is because of how inconvenience the drum notations take up the screen space. While I do know I could just learn the shortcut commands, having the notations on the bottom left was very helpful and took little to no space. Would it be possible on the next update if you could customize the drum layout from the way it is right now and the one from 4.4.4 that I was previously using?
In the meantime, is there a reliable place I could go to download a previous version of Musescore? I've previous made a ticket about it but the response wasn't helpful.

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• Μάιος 15, 2025 - 14:17

Entering notes for unpitched percussion directly onto the staff was never possible prior to 4.5. In the past, you always needed to first click an icon in the drum panel, then you could click onto the staff. Until you selected something in the panel, clicking in the staff would have no effect whatsoever. And every time you wanted to change which note you entered - like from snare to ride cymbal or whatever - you had to move your mouse back to the panel to select the new note, then back to the score, before you could start clicking to enter that note. 4.5 for the first time allows to skip the panel and just enter all notes directly onto the staff, simply by clicking the appropriate line or space just as you would for ordinary pitched staves. You can also leave your mouse in the panel and just click the pads there to enter notes if you prefer seeing the names of the instruments rather than thinking about which staff line is which. And you can also now define as many shortcuts as you like for percussion instruments, rather than being limited to just A-G as in previous releases.

So because of all these improvements, I recommend setting the percussion panel not to display automatically at all. You can now enter notes by clicking directly onto the staff or using a full set of keyboard shortcuts - which again was not possible before. And then for the cases where you want to enter a note you can remember the staff line or shortcut for, you can open the panel by pressing "O".

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• Μάιος 17, 2025 - 01:18

I'm quite confused. I've never seen anything that could be labeled a "drum panel". In the past, I have added a percussion instrument and, on its staff, typed one of the letters that it accepted. For a drumset, I could easily move a selected note Up and Down to switch it between all the drum sounds. On a single drum's staff, I could only switch between them if there was more than one sound: e.g. High Wood Block and Low Wood Block.

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• Μάιος 17, 2025 - 04:32

Well, yes, with keyboard, if your instrument had only seven or fewer possible notes, you could use shortcuts. And yes, you could first enter the wrong note than use the arrow keys to change to the right now. But it was not possible to enter the right note directly onto the staff using the mouse until 4.5.

The drum panel prior to 4.5 looked like this, there was no way to not have it display, and it was absolutely required in order to enter notes via mouse:

Screenshot 2025-05-16 9.31.40 PM.png

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• Μάιος 15, 2025 - 14:24

Marc's quote: "I recommend setting the percussion panel not to display automatically at all. "
Can you expand on that, step by step. For the moment, the O shortcut makes it disappear, but as soon as I enter a new note, it comes back.
I must have missed something, or misunderstood how it works. :(

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• Μάιος 15, 2025 - 14:47

Sure, just go to Preferences / Percussion, and set the option "Open the panel automatically" to "Never":

Screenshot 2025-05-15 7.37.11 AM.png

The panel will now show up only when you explicitly open it via "O". I find I can do most percussion entry without the panel (drum kit and single-line percussion instruments) through shortcuts and/or direct entry onto the staff. I typically need to open the panel only for the new orchestral "mixed percussion" instrument, where I haven't memorized what's available or the staff line assignments or set up all the shortcuts I might want. Even then, I don't need it very often, since most passages I write are for a single instrument at a time, and once I've entered one note from the panel, I can then enter further notes by clicking the same line/space of the staff. Also, by holding Shift while hovering over the staff, you can see the current assignments for each line, so if I just need a quick reminder rather than a full palette, I can get it that way.

Bottom line, it's pretty impressive how much simpler & faster percussion entry is this way! I just wish the panel itself had been designed to take less space by default, so we didn't get so many people in a hurry to reject it without understanding just how powerful it is.

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• Μάιος 15, 2025 - 15:32

Ah indeed, I got it. I had missed the “Never” option in Preferences/Percussion. I knew about this dialog because several people absolutely wanted to go back to the Legacy panel :) What I had missed was this option... for the new panel!

"so we didn't get so many people in a hurry to reject it without understanding just how powerful it is."
Indeed, when faced with something new, it's a common reflex to want to return absolutely to something known and familiar :)
Nevertheless, this deserves to be explained more clearly, as you have done, because I myself (although I don't input much percussion) was on a wrong track...
This explanation deserves to be on the Handbook (in its own way of course). Unless it's already been done, I haven't yet check.

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• Ιουν 18, 2025 - 15:44

Good day!
Starting with version 4, regardless of the program update, the program immediately crashes.
I installed each version, completely deleting previous versions, but the result is always the same - immediately crashes after launch.
There is also a visual bug in the form of a "transparent square".

Συνημμένο Μέγεθος
123321123321.jpg 94.54 KB
MuseScore_250618_173231.txt 28.69 KB
MuseScore_250618_173255.txt 16.07 KB
MuseScore_250618_173348.txt 16.39 KB
MuseScore_250618_173916.txt 24.08 KB
MuseScore_250618_174745.txt 20.49 KB

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• Ιουν 18, 2025 - 18:11

Unfortunately, this does not help.
I completely removed the program from my computer.
Deleting folders:
C:\Users\DarkA\Documents\MuseScore4
C:\Users\DarkA\AppData\Local\MuseScore
C:\Users\DarkA\AppData\Roaming\MuseScore
C:\Program Files\MuseScore 4

The result is always the same:
White square and program crash.

Here is the result of a factory reset in version 4.0.2:

Συνημμένο Μέγεθος
123.jpg 158.78 KB
124.jpg 128.56 KB

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• Ιουλ 7, 2025 - 03:06

Any word on when pitch bend functionality will be returned?
Also image capture?

Musescore 4 still has lots of issues which keep me stuck on version 3, but these are the main two.

If not, does anyone know what's on the roadmap? Or how to request these features?

Thanks for any help,
Aaron
-Depressed former musescore fanboy

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• Ιουλ 7, 2025 - 03:10

Pitch Bend has never not been supported; not sure what you are talking about. If you mean the special-purpose guitar bend tool, that was reintroduced in greatly improved form a year or two ago, but the ordinary bends have always worked.

A dedicated image capture tool is not present, but all OS’s provide screen capture tools which are sufficient for most uses cases except some highly demanding publishing contexts, and for those, export is usually the better option anyhow. not that yet another option wouldn’t be nice too, but with two excellent ones already available, it seems no one has been motivated to work a=on adding another method as well, when there are other higher priorities to work on.

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• Ιουλ 7, 2025 - 04:05

Hi, thanks for the response! I'm confused by your statement, "Pitch Bend has never not been supported..."

I just made two simple test files to demonstrate.
Mu3: Test - Pitch Bend in Mu3 (adjustable, playback works).mscz
Mu4: Test - Pitch Bend in Mu4 (no playback, not adjustable).mscz

In Musescore 3, the pitch bend articulation is adjustable, looks correct ("full" with an arrow indicating the direction), and it plays back as expected: Pitch_Bend_in_Mu3_(adjustable,_playback_works).png

In Musescore 4, the pitch bend articulation isn't adjustable, doesn't appear as pitch bend (I'm getting an up-down angle that I can't change), and doesn't play back at all: Pitch Bend in Mu4 2025-07-06 (no playback, not adjustable).png

Also, the image capture tool in M3 makes things sooooo easy and straightforward. It's a very powerful tool, and super efficient. I create workshop notes when I present for music educators around the country, and it's a huge reason why I stick with Mu3. Also, above, that Mu3 image took less than 5 sec to export and attach. It took over a minute to get that Mu4 image, and I ultimately gave up and just took a regular screenshot. Exporting an svg file then opening that in another program and somehow cropping it, then resaving the portion I need -- that is quite a hassle. And there's no built-in program in Windows that does this. I've spent hours trying to develop a workflow for this over the past 3+ years as other users complained about the tool being removed; and I never found a good workflow or a good tool. Perhaps there is. But even still, the idea that I'd have to go through that process potentially hundreds of times to create certain handouts, or worksheets, or visuals for the classroom -- that is a painful prospect 🥴. And if I make any edits, I'd have to do it all over again. It sounds like you're saying that there is neither the interest nor the motivation from the developers to bring that feature back. That is heartbreaking, but understood. I do appreciate the honesty and frankness.

For clarity, I'm using the following versions:
- M3 version: OS: Windows 10 (10.0), Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.6.2.548021803, revision: 3224f34
- M4 version: OS: Windows 11 Version 2009 or later, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore Studio version (64-bit): 4.5.2-251141402, revision: ac9d3bc

Are you able to get the M4 pitch bend tool working like the M3 version? If so, any tips?

Thanks
Aaron
P.S. I'm not sure this is the appropriate place for help with these questions, which is why I initially just asked if someone can provide info or direct me to the right space. But I do SINCERELY appreciate the help. Thank you so much!

Συνημμένο Μέγεθος
Test - Pitch Bend in Mu4 (no playback, not adjustable).mscz 18.19 KB
Test - Pitch Bend in Mu3 (adjustable, playback works).mscz 4.91 KB

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• Ιουλ 7, 2025 - 04:26

Old-style bends created using the MU3 version of the tool are not automatically fixed up; you will generally need to delete and re-add them, I believe. See the MU4 Handbook section on bends in the Guitar chapter for more info on how to add and customize them. It looks like you neglected to add the end pitch for your bend, so MuseScore is trying to add a bend from a note to itself which of course doesn’t work.

I’m well aware of how the MU3 image capture tool worked, having worked on that code myself. It was nice indeed, but as I said, the vast majority of its real world use cases are solved just as well or better by native screen capture and by export, so none of the many volunteer developers in the open source community has found it a high priority.

For quick captures for online sharing or for slides or quick prints for class handouts, your OS’s built capture tool is every bit as efficient as MU3’s tool was. Windows absolutely has this; it’s called the Snipping tool. Plus there are dozens of excellent third party tools. All of these take but seconds exactly as the MU3 tool did - not sure what you were doing that caused you to spend any more time doing that than with MU3’s similar tool. But what none of these do well is produce precisely and consistently cropped images when dealing with dozens or hundreds of examples needed for professional publications, and this is where export shines, both in MU3 and MU4. For instance, if you have 100 different four-examples you need to incorporate into a doctoral dissertation, you create a 100-page score with one example per page, and the page size and largins set to how you want to to appear, then export them all at once. brilliant simple, faster, and 100% consistent. But again, for casual use, your OS’s (or favorite third party) screen capture tool does a fine job.

The better place to ask for help is starting a new thread in the Support forum.

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• Ιουλ 9, 2025 - 16:17

There are and never have been official or supported Flatpak builds for MuseScore. Some third parties have created some on their own in the past, but they typically are built incorrectly and have all sort of hard-to-diagnose bugs as a result that aren’t present in the official builds (as well as potentially being out of date). I strongly recommend removing any unofficial/unsupported builds such as from Flatpak and instead simply download and optionally install (via the “install” command line option) the official supported AppImage.

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• Ιουλ 11, 2025 - 10:30

I tried to use the 4.5.2 AppImage version. Unfortunately it's utterly impossible to use, at least on my Ubuntu 25.04 / Wayland / PipeWire configuration.

As soon as I klick in the score, it does not draw just one note, but instantly fills the entire score with duplicates, clashing into the end bar and keep hammering to the end line. Like if I drop a book on the keyboard. I just can force close the application.

Unfortunately the latest 3.x is not much better either. Just "different", as although normally responsive, the OS prompts me for "application does not respond wait/terminate" every 10 seconds and eventually decides to just dump the application.

Too bad. I really used to like the program, but the 4.x GUI (at least in the Linux build) is bugged all over. :-(

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• Ιουλ 11, 2025 - 13:54

You clearly have a MIDI loop on your system - a program or device running that is configured to accept all input and echo it back to output, and MuseScore is configured to both output to and input from that program or device. Either shut that down, or go to Edit / Preferences / Audio & MIDI within MuseScore and disable it for either input or output.

If you have further questions about using MuseScore, best to start a new thread in the Support forum.

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